Volume III: Biographies

WALTER, Eugene *

Actor (1916-1917)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Eugene Walter played in Thanhouser films released in 1916 and 1917.

Biographical Notes: Eugene Walter, a well-known playwright, began his career as a newspaper reporter in his native Cleveland, where he was born in 1877. He served in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Later, he went to New York City, where he wrote his first successful play, Undertow, in 1907. From that point he wrote many other plays, including Just a Wife, Boots and Saddles, Sergeant James, Fine Feathers, Homeward Bound, A Plain Woman, Nancy Lee, The Knife, Under Northern Skies, Poor Little Sheep, The Heritage, The Easiest Way, Paid in Full, and The Challenge.

Eugene Walter appeared as an "extra" in a film starring his wife, Charlotte Walker. The picture, Mary Lawson's Secret, was produced in 1916 and early 1917. His participation in another Thanhouser film was chronicled in The Morning Telegraph, October 15, 1916: "Eugene Walter, the playwright, drove to the Thanhouser studios in New Rochelle the other day with his wife, Charlotte Walker, who is now a Thanhouser star. Frederick Sullivan, who was making a ballroom scene for Flo LaBadie's feature, Divorce and the Daughter, pressed Mr. Walter into service as an 'extra.' He is the man wearing false whiskers in the big dancing scene. I hope he got his $3."

Eugene Walter married three times, each time to an actress. After Charlotte Walker his next wife was Mary Kissell. At the time of his death, in Hollywood, California on September 26, 1941, he was married to Mary Dorne. Interment was in the Veterans' Cemetery in Sawtelle, near Westwood, Los Angeles. His obituary appeared in Variety, October 1, 1941.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1916: Divorce and the Daughter (12-3-1916)

1917: Mary Lawson's Secret (4-1-1917)

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